


Autumn-ing for You Doesn't Have the Same Ring to It

by thestanceyg, VelvetSky



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23295481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestanceyg/pseuds/thestanceyg, https://archiveofourown.org/users/VelvetSky/pseuds/VelvetSky
Relationships: Clint Barton/Darcy Lewis
Comments: 37
Kudos: 95
Collections: Marching Orders





	1. Setting the Mood




	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The awesome moodboard is the only reason there are words here.

Everyone had scattered like leaves in the wind. The world was safe again, for the meantime, sending the team off in different directions. Even Jane had left for some intensive research opportunity that would occupy her for at least a month. It left Darcy futzing around the Compound trying to amuse herself. She was reorganizing the cabinets in the commons kitchen for the fourth time in as many days.

"You don't have to stay here, you know. Until the next crisis or whenever folks decide to return, everyone is encouraged to go, travel, visit family." Clint repeated the words Tony had used as he wandered in to find Darcy on a step ladder sorting canned goods, again. He’d quietly noticed but let her do her thing the past few days figuring perhaps she just needed to get it out of her system. 

Darcy visibly sighed before speaking. "Where else am I going to go? My family all has their own lives, I can't really just pop in and ask to sleep there for a while. Jane didn't need me for her thing she's doing, and pretty much everyone else is gone. Why are you still here?"

"No where else to go really either. No family really, and everyone else I know is kind of doing their own thing. I just thought I was the only one." He shrugged a bit before opening the fridge to retrieve some leftover pizza. 

“Oh, really?” She supposed if she really thought about it, she could see where being an Avenger could be something of a lonely lifestyle. “I didn’t realize.” 

Clint shrugged again as he chewed on some pizza. “I was thinking about just taking a little away time for a bit, maybe head into the wilds or something.” 

“Oh, when are you thinking of leaving? Maybe I can make you something for your trip or something?” Darcy wondered a bit what she’d do if she really was the last one left rattling around the place though. 

“I was thinking tomorrow or the next day. You could come with me, if you want to. I wouldn’t mind a little company.” Clint enjoyed his time to himself, but he liked Darcy, she was funny and kind, and when there was a chance to get some time alone to get to know her better without everyone else catching wind of it and nosing in before he knew which way was up, he had to take it.

“Really? That might be nice. Where were you heading?” Darcy stepped down off the step ladder and turned all her attention on Clint. 

“Just up into the Adirondacks. It’s nice there this time of year, all the leaves changing, but it doesn’t draw crazy crowds the way some other places do, so it’s quiet and calm. I got ahold of a little cabin with some property up there last year.” He’d set his slice down and shifted a little closer, leaning his hip into the counter as his finger tips grazed the top. 

“How long are you planning to be gone for?” Darcy leaned into the counter with her hip as well, facing him. She saw him around a lot, but didn’t feel like she knew much about him even though it felt like they chatted often enough. Usually those chats were about casual things like music or the weather or the immediate situation at the Compound.

Clint wasn’t sure how long his mouth had sat open before his mind registered just how close she was standing. Licking his lips and swallowing before speaking. “I hadn’t really decided, few days, a week, more maybe? Kind of depends on how I’m feeling. But it’s not such a long drive that if you only want to come up for a few days I can’t drive you back and go back up.”

“I don’t want to put you out like that.” Darcy wasn’t sure she’d actually looked this long right into his eyes and at the moment they looked very soft. 

“You wouldn’t be. I figured I’d possibly come and go anyway. You don’t have to come along, but if you think you’d like to, even for a few days, I really would be happy to have you there.” Clint scratched his neck and shrugged with a bit of a lopsided smile. 

Darcy smiled a little broader. “Okay then. That sounds good. A change of scenery would probably do me some good.” 

“That was my thought with it too. With everyone else gone, it feels a little strange lurking around here.” His hand moved in a gesture around the room though his eyes didn’t leave hers.

Darcy took a deep breath and felt the exhale let go of at least a little of the tension she’d felt wound up in her body for days. “I could make some cookies for the road. What are your favorites?”

“I’m a pretty simple person. Classic chocolate chip cookies are always good. But you also don’t have to do that.” Clint picked up the rest of his slice again to prevent his hands from reaching out and touching her arm or something like that.

“I want to, it’ll be nice to have something yummy. I can put together a few other good car snacks too.” Darcy’s hand reached out and softly squeezed his forearm for a moment before pulling back and moving to pull a mixing bowl from the cabinets. 

Clint’s smile deepened a little and he felt his skin warm. “Going to start baking now?”

“Yeah, in case you want to head up tomorrow, they’ll be ready. And if it’s the day after, they’ll keep a day. Plus it’s something for me to do besides reorganizing the cabinets, again.” Darcy laughed a little at herself and shook her head.

Clint chuckled softly. “Fair enough.” 

The first half hour of the ride was quiet. They’d set out early and Darcy was half curled up in the passenger seat of the vehicle. Clint had borrowed a large pick-up truck with full off road capability in case the road conditions changed. October in the mountains could shift and there was the possibility of rain later in the week, if they stayed up there long enough.

Clint glanced over at Darcy yet again, but this time found she was already looking at him and smiled as soon as their eyes met. “Hey. Still a little tired? We could have left later.” 

Darcy smiled and giggled. “Sleepy, yes. But leaving early was good, means we’ll get up there with most of the day left still to settle in. Do we need to stop for groceries?”

“I packed some stuff and have some canned food up there that’s good for tonight. But if you’re up for groceries, there’s a nice market in the nearby town, we can head there.” His eyes were back on the road but his attention was still really on her.

“That sounds good, then I can cook something for dinner and maybe plan what we can have for a few days once I see what kind of kitchen set up you have there.” A hint of excitement lacing her voice and a little smile playing on her lips.

Clint had to chuckle a little. “Sounds good. I want to say the kitchen is well equipped, but I don’t know what your view of that is, cause it’s definitely not as fancy as what Stark has set up at the Compound.” 

“Oh, I’m pretty simple. As long as there’s a functional stove and oven of any kind, I can make it work. I never even encountered fancy kitchen appliances like Stark has until I arrived at the Compound.” 

“I know I made a thing the other day about how you didn’t need to bring snacks, but did you happen to bring snacks? I put down a couple cups of coffee this morning but forgot to eat.” Clint was keeping most of his visual focus on the road, but his eyes took a side glance at her frequently as they talked.

Darcy laughed and smiled at him. “I sure did. Let me find them.” She reached for one of her bags in the back seat and started digging through it, pulling a couple things out before uncovering a container of cookies, a bag full of baby carrots and another container full of grapes. “I have options.” 

Clint was at a full laugh before she even pulled out the food. “Did you bring your taser to the woods?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess.” She shrugged a little, putting it and a couple other things back in the bag.

“Why?” He was grinning and caught her eyes for a moment.

“I don’t know. Just habit to pack it, I suppose?” She chuckled and shrugged with a small slightly sheepish smile. “I bring it everywhere cause you never know.”

“Sorry. Not that it’s not a bad idea, but how did you end up being a person who carries a taser everywhere?” Clint reached a hand over and touched her arm a moment.

His brief and gentle touch left a tingling sensation dancing on her skin even after his hand had pulled away again. “You were Shield, you guys had a file on me, didn’t you?” Darcy was smiling softly at him the whole time, it didn’t bother her, she just assumed he’d already know all that. 

“Yeah, but I never read yours. That was kind of Coulson’s area and then shared what was relevant to a situation.” Clint also preferred actually getting to know her. Dropping in and asking how her day was and seeing what she felt like sharing.

“Not all the neighborhoods I grew up in were always safe, so I had self defense lessons and my mom bought me pepper spray even before I was legally supposed to be allowed to carry it cause she felt safer knowing I had something. And when I headed off to college, I upgraded to a taser. I haven’t had to use those things very often, but I’ve been glad I had a means of defense a few times.” Darcy had put her bag back but had all the snacks sitting at the ready.

“Sounds like a sound reason. I guess you just didn’t immediately strike me as someone who grew up in a rough neighborhood.” Clint shook his head a bit, knowing he shouldn’t have assumed just by the way she looked and behaved, but it just wasn’t the impression she gave off.

“We come in all shapes and sizes. Most of the time I have no idea how I really wound up here myself. Life can be weird that way.” She snickered a little and smiled back at the little smile he flashed her. 

“Now that’s a true statement. You just seem like such a bright person.” He hadn’t had the easiest upbringing and it had certainly colored his life right up to the present. And was why the empty Compound made him feel a little ill at ease, and why if he was going to be alone, doing so out in the woods seemed much more comforting. Maybe there was no real logic to that, but it was how Clint felt.

“Only when I have to be. Usually when someone else is feeling even worse. Otherwise, not so much.” Darcy shrugged looking out the windows a moment before turning her attention back to the snacks. “So, what’s your snack choice? I can hand it to you.” 

“Always start with cookies when there’s cookies.” Glancing at her with a grin before putting his eyes back on the road. 

Darcy laughed and handed over a cookie. “That is also a true statement.” 

A little access road had lead from the main road to the property. Darcy’s smile had spread as soon as they pulled up. It had been a little over a month since Clint last got up there so they opened the windows and let the place air out a little while they made a grocery trip into town. 

It was a modest cabin, but had all the essentials and a few creature comforts. Darcy suggested a couple of sage candles they could light to help freshen up the air in the cabin as well. Clint agreed easily. He wasn’t picky about that, and it didn’t seem overwhelming. 

Only after the groceries did Darcy really look around the place. When she wandered back into the main room Clint was still putting the last of the groceries away. “No bed in the spare room?”

“Oh, yeah I haven’t gotten to doing much in there. You can sleep in the bed. There’s a cot somewhere and I have a camping mat that I can use in the other room. Or a couch.” Clint was fairly sure he had left the cot he’d slept the first few nights in the cabin last year, before the bed arrived. It was probably shoved into one of the closets because he didn’t recall taking it out of the house. 

“It’s your house-” Darcy’s beginning of a protest of that idea didn’t get very far.

“I don’t even sleep in my own bed half the time anyway, it’s not a big deal. I end up crashed out on my couch even at home half the time. Believe me, I’ve slept in some strange places in my life. A couch or cot aren’t even in the running for strange.” Clint snickered a little with a crooked smile. 

“Okay. I’ve slept in a few weird places myself, but I do appreciate a bed.” Her smile was soft and warm. “This place really is nice.”

“I like it. The way things keep getting stranger, usually just when I think I’ve finally come to terms with the last new and strange development, made me think a nice quiet place to get away from everything might be a good idea.” Shaking his head a little, but it was true.

“It does seem like that ‘magic is just science we don’t understand yet’ idea keeps getting truer all the time. Not just from aliens showing up on Earth, but with some of the crazy stuff Jane’s starting to figure out, along with other scientists and more people with weird abilities popping up. The stuff of dreams and science fiction when I was a kid are reality now. It’s a little crazy. Kind of cool sometimes too, but also crazy.” 

Clint laughed, leaning against the counter after closing a cabinet and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Definitely crazy. Magic actually existing was definitely an idea I didn’t expect to see. And some of it, I’m not really even sure how to explain some of it with science.”

“Neither do I. And I work for a scientist. I suppose there are grand forces beyond what humanity currently understands. Also makes you wonder what’s around the next corner.” Darcy had slowly wandered into the actual kitchen area, a step or two each time as she was listening to him speak. 

“I’m choosing to ignore what’s around the corner of magic and science, at least until next week.” Clint’s smirk became a full blown smile as Darcy laughed at what he said and leaned back against the counter opposite him. 

“Good plan. I’m on board. This week is trees and food and quiet.” She was smiling right at him, locked in his stare.

“I have to admit since you said you were going to make a pumpkin pie while we’re here, I haven’t stopped thinking about it.” 

Darcy laughed. “Well, I guess I should put that high on the make list then. Usually I wait until Thanksgiving, but who says you can only have pumpkin pie once a year?”

“Honestly, I haven’t had pumpkin pie in years, but I always loved it. Most round food you can cut into slices actually.” One side of his mouth grinned much deeper.

A flush spread over her skin as she smiled and giggled, the toe of Darcy’s shoe shifted to just touch the toe of his. “Easy to please when it comes to food.” 

“Simple tastes paired with low expectations when I was young. Probably goes far beyond food.” Clint’s gaze shifted just a moment to take note of her foot. When his eyes caught hers again, he smiled gently with perhaps a hint of uncertainty. 

“Nothing wrong with simple. The crazier the world gets, the more I find I appreciate some simple things in my life.” The smile Darcy gave Clint in return was soft, warm, assuring.

Clint shifted to fully stand again, not leaned against the counter, his toe still against hers. “We should make the time here all about simple then.”

Darcy stared for a long moment before pushing herself to stand properly as well, literally toe to toe, looking up at him. She fought the urge to kiss his chin. It was right there, a little roll up on her toes and it would have been so easy to kiss. “Agreed. Where should we start?”

“Well, there’s a bit of property here. We could take a walk.” Clint’s fingers tickled lightly over her side and she giggled. “I can find out if you’re ticklish.”

Darcy went with both hands, one near his hip, the other closer to his underarm and tickled, getting an immediate giggle of sorts. They tickled and giggled for a minute or two before slowing to a stop, hands resting at each others sides. “Guess we’re both ticklish. And I’d love to see the property here. There’s so many trees and the leaves are so pretty.” Though she didn’t make any move to shift or step back just yet.

Clint found he was having trouble turning off the smile after the tickling. “It really is full fall colors out there right now. One of the best times to be here.” 

They slowly shifted to layer up a little more and took a rather leisurely walk around the property and found themselves holding hands by the time they wandered back to the cabin.

Darcy was a bit surprised at how capable Clint was in the kitchen making dinner with her. Apparently he just didn’t usually have the motivation to bother with it, he was perfectly capable though. 

After dinner Darcy made some hot chocolate while Clint got the fire pit on the back deck going. Clint came in just long enough to spike his chocolate with some coffee which made Darcy laugh.

“What? There’s worse things to be addicted to.” He shrugged and picked up his mug for a long drink before topping it up again by adding a little more coffee.

“And I thought I had coffee addiction issues. I am but a lowly amateur by comparison.” Darcy made a bowing motion and grinned when Clint chuckled. 

There was a rather comfy, old, worn outdoor loveseat along one side of the fire pit. Clint sat down and hoped Darcy might join him there, rather than choosing one of the chairs. His smile grew perhaps slightly stupidly happy when not only did she choose to share the loveseat with him, she sat herself down right next to him so the whole side of her body, and leg, pressed against him. At which point it seemed slightly silly not to put his arm around her. The smile she gave him when he did assured him it was the right move.

“This feels like the ideal end to a nice simple day.” She had taken a sip of her drink and glanced at the fire a moment before speaking, a soft, warm smile etched across her whole face and sitting deep in her eyes as well. They sat quietly for a little while, just looking at each other and drinking long from the warm mugs.

It was tough for Clint to look anywhere other than her eyes and his fingers started aimlessly playing with her hair before he even stopped to think about if he should do such a thing. When she simply smiled and blushed softly, he kept doing it. “I admit, I’m still a little curious about how you apparently came out of a rough neighborhood and wound up as seemingly normal and well adjusted as you are. I mean, my neighborhood was safe, but my house wasn’t so much and I’ve been called a disaster by more people than I can count.” 

“I don’t think you’re a disaster. You cope however you can. And my family has definitely repeatedly asked me what the hell I’m doing with my life. Why I spent years not getting paid and working for a scientist when it wasn’t what I studied. And it wasn’t like they understood why I was studying political science. Admittedly I wasn’t always sure why either. I just wanted to try to make a difference and that seemed like a path that might teach me how to do that. I’ve been called annoying by so many people, including Jane sometimes, though she seems to like me anyway. There are a lot of things that I cling to that other people have told me to my face are unimportant and immature. But I don’t know how else to keep my head up.” 

“You are not annoying. You’re one of the easiest people to be around. I feel comfortable around you in a way that isn’t so with a lot of people.” Clint got along well enough with most people, but of those people, very few of them were people he felt completely at ease around. 

“Thanks for thinking that. You have been a very easy person to talk to and be around.” Darcy stopped talking as Clint shifted, finishing his drink and setting the mug on an end table before looking back at her.

“The moon’s so bright tonight, and it’s lighting up your skin. I don’t know the science involved, but it looks a bit magical.” Clint’s tongue swiped across his lips as his newly free hand tucked a bit of hair behind her ear.

Darcy looked away only long enough to down the rest of her hot chocolate and found Clint took hold of the mug and deposited it alongside his own before his hand brushed over her cheek. “I don’t know the science of it either, and honestly, it sounds nicer when it’s just magic.” Her hands slid around him and he leaned in a little closer.

“To magic then.” Clint took the softest little nip at her lips before staring at her again, checking everything was good still.

“To magic.” Darcy grinned before leaning in and pressing not only her lips to his, but her whole body to his. Pulling him in close made him hold her tighter and his lips lingered, moving with hers, following her every move.


End file.
